


Warm and Safe

by hazelNuts



Series: 25 Days of Christmas [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Christmas fic, Derek is a Good Alpha, Fox!Stiles, Hurt/Comfort, Hypothermia, M/M, alpha!Derek, background Isaac/Scott
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-03
Updated: 2014-12-03
Packaged: 2018-02-28 01:23:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2713772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hazelNuts/pseuds/hazelNuts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He noticed an unfamiliar scent in the air. It was very faint, but strong enough for Derek to follow it. There was a hint of human and some other animal. The scent was laced with fear and sadness. He approached cautiously. There was no telling what he would find.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Warm and Safe

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really bad at tagging. If you think I forgot any, please let me know in the comments.

Derek loved being an Alpha and he loved his little pack, but he also loved his alone time. That was why, for this holiday season he had decided to send everyone off to their families. The only one left in Beacon Hills was Isaac, but that was because his boyfriend, Scott, was here too.

Patrol wasn’t a necessity in December. Most supernaturals would be too tied up with their own traditions to plan an attack. Add to that the fact that it was freezing, and the chances of a hostile takeover went down to practically zero. Derek still went out, though. He liked being outside and being able to let his wolf run free.

This was exactly what he was doing when he noticed an unfamiliar scent in the air. It was very faint, but strong enough for Derek to follow it. There was a hint of human and some other animal. The scent was laced with fear and sadness. He approached cautiously. There was no telling what he would find.

The scent led him back to his house. His first thought was _Attack! Hunters!_ , but that felt all wrong. It wasn’t possible for it to be more than one creature and probably a small one at that.

About a hundred yards from the house, he saw a rust-red spot in the snow. It wasn’t blood, he would have known that scent anywhere. As he came closer, he saw that it was a fox.

The fox was a little bigger than what Derek was used to. It’s breathing shallow, like it was hurt. He noticed the slow heartbeat and it was shivering, badly. He padded towards the animal, hoping to find out what was wrong. But just as he stepped next to it, the shivering stopped. For a second Derek thought he was too late. He nudged at the fox with his nose, it’s fur was wet and ice-cold. And then he heard it, a faint little flutter of its heart.

Quickly shifting back to human, Derek picked up the animal and ran towards the house. The little thing was suffering from hypothermia. As he ran he brushed as much snow from the fur as he could.

Once inside, he dashed up the stairs to the bathroom. There, he quickly wrapped the animal up in a towel. He grabbed some clothes for himself and went back downstairs.

He lay the little bundle down in front of the fireplace, that he quickly had blazing again. He set to work, getting the fox warm again. He rubbed the fur dry, starting with its body. When he got to the tail he saw the creatures eyes flickering open.

It’s eyes were Beta-yellow. He paused for a second, but then when on with getting him dry. The werefox tried to crawl away.

‘Stay,’ Derek growled, flashing his eyes. The fox whimpered, but did as he was told. Ten minutes later the fox was as dry as Derek could get him. He looked a little alarmed when Derek started wrapping him in a blanket, but he didn’t try to run again. Derek doubted he’d get far, still sluggish from almost being frozen.

‘I’m going to get you some water. Please, stay here.’

When Derek got back with a bowl of lukewarm water, he was a little surprised the fox hadn’t moved an inch.

‘You need to drink this. It’ll help you get warm.’

Again, the fox did as he was told, pulling a face when he noticed the temperature, but he kept drinking.

‘I’m going to shift. You’re going to curl up against me to stay warm.’ He was pretty sure the fox actually wiggled his eyebrows at that. Well, it seemed that his brain hadn’t been affected. Probably.

He shifted and curled himself around the other were. He felt his breath evening out and eventually the fox fell asleep.

~

Two hours later, Derek woke up with a fox curled against his chest and Isaac sipping hot chocolate on the couch.

‘I don’t know how you do it. But every time you go out alone, you find another stray,’ the guy said with a smirk. Derek snapped his jaws at him.

‘Hey, I’m not complaining. It’s just an observation.’

Against his chest, the little fox started squirming. Now that he had warmed up, he clearly wasn’t happy with being wrapped up so tightly.

Pulling back, Derek caught a corner of the blanket between his teeth and pulled. The werefox yelped as the cocoon unravelled. When he found his feet, he made straight for the kitchen, ignoring Derek’s growl and Isaac’s laughter.

Quickly shifting and putting on some clothes, Derek followed. The fox was scratching at the fridge.

‘You hungry?’

Jumping as high as he could, the fox yelped in confirmation. He wasn’t just hungry, Derek realized as he watched him eat, he was starved. He quickly defrosted another couple pieces of chicken.

~

The werefox didn’t change back. It worried Derek and he told his Beta to look up what he could find out about werefoxes. All Derek knew, was that they were rare.

‘I couldn’t find much, but here’s what I got,’ Isaac said over dinner that night. ‘First off, you don’t see them that often and finding one that can do a full shift is even more rare. They don’t usually travel in packs. When they’re eighteen, they tend to leave home, sometimes even sooner. They also move around a lot. They tend to have a wide range of interests. They’re smart, but they don’t have a very long attention span. Finally, they don’t trust easily. If they feel threatened they shift and don’t shift back until they’re safe.’ They both turned to look at the fox at that. He appeared to be sleeping, but his ears were turned towards them. No, he didn’t feel safe here. ‘But,’ Isaac continued, ‘they are extremely loyal. If you manage to gain a werefox’s trust, they’ll stay with you forever.’

‘So, how do we gain his trust?’

‘You want him to stay?’

‘Well, I’m not going to let him get back out there like this. Something must have caused him to shift, which means he probably doesn’t have a place to go.’

Isaac shrugged his shoulders. ‘I have no idea how to gain his trust, Derek. It’s probably the same as for wolves. Touch, scent, food, shelter. So, I guess we should probably keep doing what we’re doing.’

Derek nodded. It sounded like a good plan.

~

Three days in, Derek thought they might need a new plan. It was Christmas Eve and he was alone with the werefox. Isaac was having dinner with Scott and his mom, and tomorrow they would be coming here for breakfast. He really hoped he wouldn’t have to explain the presence of a fox to Melissa.

‘I wish you could talk like this. It would be creepy, but at least I’d know how to help you,’ Derek sighed. The fox put his head in Derek’s lap and Derek absentmindedly started scratching behind his ears. ‘I don’t know what else to do. Do you need more time? Or are you afraid of what we’ll do when you’re human again?’

The fox shifted a little. Derek looked down and saw one of his back paws twitching. That always happened when he got nervous.

‘Is that it? You’re afraid we’ll hurt you?’ The fox moved his head from side to side. ‘You’re afraid we’ll kick you out?’ The fox tried to crawl away, but Derek grabbed him before he could get very far. He twisted on the couch so he could look him straight in the eyes.

‘I’m not going to kick you out. I like you here. Isaac likes you, too, and so will the others. If you’d want to, you could be part of the pack.’ Derek saw yellow eyes flickering from his heart to his face. He knew what the fox heard, a steady heartbeat. Derek meant every word of it.

Over the last couple of days he’d gotten attached to the werefox. He was curious, restless, clumsy, and ate far more than you’d expect for his size. He was also very comforting. He would curl up next to Derek when he was reading or watching television. And when Isaac had almost had a panic attack over his first Christmas with his boyfriend, the fox had started to gnaw on his fingers as a distraction. Ten minutes later, Derek found them wrestling on the floor.

The fox stood up on hind paws and put his front paws on Derek’s shoulders. For a second he looked him straight in the eye, and then lick the Alpha on his cheek.

‘Okay then,’ Derek said a little stunned. Licking was very personal for wolves, and he couldn’t imagine it being any different for foxes. Smiling, he picked up his book and started reading. The fox curled into his side.

~

Christmas morning was cold and Derek didn’t want to get out of bed. His bed was nice and comfortable and there was a very reassuring and warm weight on his chest. Wait. What?

Slowly opening his eyes, he looked down. He saw a mop of messy, brown hair. Beyond that, there was pale skin, dotted with moles. There was also a very nice ass.

Quickly looking back up at the ceiling he shook the strangers shoulder. All it did was make him let out a little moan and shuffle closer to the werewolf.

‘Hey,’ Derek said, shaking a little harder.

‘What?’ the guy bit out as he glared up at Derek. Then with a ‘Holy crap’ and a lot of flailing he fell off the bed.

There was no question as to who the guy was. Derek looked over the edge of the mattress at the werefox, who was now sprawled on his back. His eyes looked almost gold in colour. He had a cute upturned nose that Derek really wanted to touch.

‘Ha, I’m human again.’ The triumphant cry was accompanied with a fist pump. ‘And, oh my god, it’s cold.’

The were sprung up and dove under the covers, curling himself against Derek’s side.

‘Fair warning. I’m going to stick my hands under your shirt, because if I don’t get them warmed up right now, they will fall off.’

Derek jumped a little as he felt cold fingers against his abs. He poked the werefox in the side for the accompanied laugh. He wrapped his arms around him. Just to make sure he’d warm up as fast as possible, of course.

‘What happened?’ Derek asked, when they’d gotten comfortable. He felt the guy stiffen in his arms. ‘Never mind, we can talk about it tomorrow.’

‘Do we have to?’

‘Yes. I meant what I said. I like you here. But if you’re going to stay, that means we’ll have to deal with whatever drove you here.’

‘Okay.’

Derek dragged his fingers through the guy’s hair.

‘We should get up soon. We have breakfast to prepare.’

‘We? I’m your guest.’

‘No, you’re pack now. Which means that you help out.’

He looked down when he got no answer. The smile on the guy’s face was blinding.

~

There were a few things Derek got out of the werefox during preparations. It wasn’t hard to get him talking, it was just hard to get him to stay on subject. His name was Stiles. The look he’d gotten at that, had told Derek that he was not allowed to comment on it. The werefox was from Southern California. And when Derek had probed a little more at what had made Stiles leave. All he got was: ‘Hunters.’

He’d quickly changed the subject their expected guests. He told Stiles how Scott and Isaac had met. He told him about Scott’s mom. He also told him a little about his other Betas, Erica and Boyd.

When the front door opened and the guests walked in, Derek sensed Stiles’ nervousness. He squeezed his shoulder, reassuring that he had nothing to worry about.

And he didn’t. Isaac froze for half a second when he saw Stiles, but barrelled into him when he realized who he was.

‘Welcome back,’ the wolf whispered into the fox’s ear.

The introductions with the McCalls went just as smoothly, if a little less physical. Breakfast went off without a hitch. Scott and Stiles immediately found common ground with movies and videogames. And Melissa started fishing for the French toast recipe after two bites.

Afterwards they all collapsed in the living room. Melissa was in the armchair, Scott and Isaac were passed out on the floor. And Stiles had wrapped himself around Derek on the couch.

‘You know what we should do, once we can move again,’ Stiles said.

‘I will never move again,’ Scott groaned, from underneath Isaac.

‘We should have a snowball fight,’ Stiles finished.

Isaac’s and Scott’s hand shot up at the same time. ‘Yes!’

Derek smiled. Stiles fitted perfectly.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm also on [tumblr](http://fandom-madnessess.tumblr.com/).


End file.
